Amusement devices delight and entertain by appealing to the senses in novel and unexpected ways. For example, a figure may spring out of a jack-in-the-box at the end of a song, providing a visual surprise after a period of auditory stimulation. Alternatively, an aerial fireworks display may conclude with a loud bang, providing an auditory surprise after a period of visual stimulation.
Although novelty is fundamental to amusement devices, generating novelty is difficult because humans perceive their environment through a limited number of senses, namely sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Yet, a successful amusement device should employ a novel combination of these senses, and it should appeal to that combination in a novel way.
Amusement devices most commonly appeal to sight and hearing, as with the jack-in-the-box and fireworks. Amusement devices less commonly appeal to other senses, such as taste. The relatively few amusement devices relating to edible substances primarily have combined appeal to taste with appeal to sight and/or touch. For example, a few patents have disclosed lollipop holders that cause a lollipop to jiggle, wobble, or spin. These devices combine the taste of the lollipop with the amusing sight and feel of a moving lollipop. Others have developed various mechanical or electrical candy dispensers.
Even less common are amusement devices that combine appeal to taste with appeal to hearing. Nevertheless, one patent has disclosed an amusement device that simultaneously appeals to taste, hearing, and sight. In this device, a lollipop holder plays preprogrammed sounds using a standard speaker integrated into the holder. The lollipop holder also flashes pulses of light that are synchronized with the sounds.
Despite their novelty in combining appeal to taste with appeal to other senses, each of the amusement devices described above has significant shortcomings. For example, although these devices appeal to a variety of senses, they generally do so in simple and repetitive ways, such as spinning a lollipop or dispensing a piece of candy. Yet, an amusement device designed to appeal to a variety of senses should offer complex stimulation, not mindless repetition. More importantly, each of the devices described above appeals to the senses in very conventional ways. For example, the device that simultaneously appeals to taste, hearing, and sight generates sound using a conventional speaker and transmits that sound to the ears through the air. Yet, for greatest novelty, an amusement device should appeal to a given sense in an unexpected or even startling way, such as with sound waves that are not transmitted through the air.
Recently, a mechanism for transmitting sound to the ears that bypasses the air has been determined. Through this mechanism, sound waves are transmitted directly to the ears, without traveling through air, by conduction through an object to the mouth, from which the sound waves travel through the teeth and bones to the ears to be perceived as sound. This process is termed denta-mandibular conduction. Several devices have been designed based on this principle, including a teeth-held head tilt alarm and an underwater communication device. Significantly, none of these devices is directed at amusement. More significantly, none combines appeal to hearing with appeal to taste in the construction of an amusement device or method.